Sunday, January 16, 2011

Sunday Stills: Macro

Ed suggested we shoot inside, but the sun finally came out and the landscape begged to be explored after several days of rain and cold. And with great luck, I came across a family of Earth Stars. I just love these little things.


Earth Stars are a relative of the Puffball, and belong to a group of fungi known as Gasteromycetes which means 'stomach fungi'. They have a little 'stomach' filled with spores.


Unlike any other fungus, an Earth Star can move!


When it rains the outer layer splits into many rays, looking like a star. The rays of the star act like legs to raise the stomach above and release the spores.

For more up close photos visit Sunday Stills!

8 comments:

Fantastyk Voyager said...

Wow, I've never see an Earth star before!! very cool.!!

Anonymous said...

Well done, very educational. I've never seen one either. :)

Brenda said...

interesting. I have never seen one.

Shirley said...

That's really cool! Good job!

Ed said...

Too cool, great shots too..:-)

Far Side of Fifty said...

very cool, I have never seen an earth star before..thanks for sharing! :)

Anonymous said...

How interesting! We have many puffballs here but I've never seen an Earth star!

Jill said...

Very interesting! I see those here. Great shots.

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